Keeping Picnics and Cookouts Safe

Picnics.  Who doesn’t enjoy a summer picnic?  Good eating and fun times with friends.  Send your friends and family home with good treats but not with food poisoning.  I tell my students the story of my daughter going to a friend’s house for a cookout.  Everyone had a great time with their friends.  But the next day my daughter felt sick.  She talked to some friends who had gone to the cook out and they were sick too.  The cook out resulted in food poisoning for all those who attended.  What went wrong?  Why did people who went to the cook out get sick?  Surely the hostesses didn’t’ intend to make everyone sick.  So what food safety precautions can you take to make sure your friends and family enjoy the cookout without getting sick once they get home?  Eat Right, the website of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, has a great article, Keep Your Picnic Safe .  USDA also has clear guidance and four steps for food safety, CLEAN, SEPARATE, COOK & CHILL.  

How can you keep your cookouts and picnics safe?

          1.  CLEAN - Wash your hands – a LOT –

a.       Wash your hands before and handling food, raw meat, chopping, cutting

b.       Wash out the cooler before you put food and ice in it

c.       Wash your hands after grocery shopping and before putting the groceries away

d.       Wash knives, cutting boards and other utensils after each use

e.       Wipe off counter tops after use

f.        Wash fruit and vegetables

g.       DO NOT wash poultry, meat or eggs– this is pretty new – washing just spreads salmonella and other germs around your sink and kitchen

          2.  SEPARATE

a.       Keep vegetables separate from raw meat, raw poultry, raw eggs, and raw seafood

                                                               i.      Avoid Cross Contamination - Use a different cutting board and plates for raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs – if you use the same knife or cutting board for raw meat and for vegetables – you can contaminate the vegetables with bacteria - this is called “Cross Contamination”

                                                             ii.      Keep raw meat and vegetables separate in the refrigerator – make sure raw meat drippings aren’t contaminating other food in the refrigerator

                                                           iii.      Use a separate plate to carry raw meat like hamburger patties to the grill.  Do not reuse this plate to serve the cooked hamburger patties.

         3.  COOK

a.       Use a food thermometer - cooking foods to the proper temperature is key to preventing food poisoning.  Looking at food will not tell you if it is done.  Don’t try to partially grill meat or poultry and then finish cooking it later.

                                                               i.      Chicken –  insert thermometer into thickest part of meat and cook to at least 165 degrees

                                                             ii.      Hamburgers, thin meats – insert thermometer into side of meat and cook to minimum of 160 degrees

                                                           iii.      Pork -  cook to 145 degrees – let rest for 3 minutes to let any remaining bacteria to be destroyed

b.       Danger zone – bacteria that cause food poisoning multiply the fastest in the DANGER ZONE – temperatures between 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit.  In other words – at room temperature.

c.       Keep hot foods HOT after cooking at 140 degrees or above.  Use a warming tray, slow cooker to keep hot food hot.

          4.  CHILL

a.       TWO HOURs – bacteria start to grow in perishable foods within 2 hours at room temperature.  If you are outside on a hot, 90 degree+ day, bacteria grow within one hour. 

b.       Refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours – cold temperatures slow the growth of bacteria,

c.       Don’t thaw or marinate raw meat on the counter. Thaw raw meat and marinate raw meat in the refrigerator not on the kitchen counter. Bacteria multiply rapidly at room temperature.  According to USDA, thawing or marinating raw meat on the kitchen counter is one of the riskiest things you can do when preparing food for your family or guests.

d.       Don’t reuse the marinade – either put some marinade aside before you add the raw meat, or boil the marinade

e.       When packing a cooler – keep raw meat away from vegetables.  Use plenty of ice to keep the temperature below 40 degrees F. 

Enjoy that barbecue or picnic.  Take home leftovers but don’t take home food poisoning.  Here are four videos to help you put the USDA four food safety steps into practice:  CLEAN, SEPARATE, COOK and CHILL

Sources:  Keep Your Picnic Safe, USDA, food safety, Cross Contamination, CLEAN, SEPARATE, COOK, CHILL  Images sources:  utensils, food safety, cook